The "IB Effect": IB Students’ Post-Secondary Outcomes

US IB students outperform the national average in terms of college enrollment and graduation rates. This is true whether or not they actually receive their diploma, whether or not they are full-IB students, and even after controlling for demographic characteristics.

Analyzing data on the 37,347 students of the 2013 US DP cohort (50% full-IB), a recent report found that they were much more likely to enroll in college than the average American student. While the national average stands at 66%, over 82% of US IB students enrolled in a postsecondary institution. What is more, 74.7% attended a 4-year institution, while only 40% did in the general population, and most of them  (64.2%) joined a “more selective” one.

Likewise, while the general 4-year graduation rate only stands at 41.1%, it reached 61.6% for IB students. The “IB effect” was significant even for non-full IB students (55.8%), but larger for full-IB students (66.5%), especially when they received the diploma (74.4%). 

For non-full IB students, the number of IB courses they took was a strong predictor of both outcomes, each additional IB course taken increasing their odds of attending and graduating college by 32% and 12% respectively. For full-DP students, each additional point earned on the final exam increased their odds of attending and graduating college by 5% and 13% respectively.
 
Interestingly, the points students can earn from TOK and the Extended Essay were particularly effective at identifying students who were likely to succeed in college, each additional point increasing a student’s odds of graduating within 4 years by 46%.
 
Importantly, this "IB effect" held even after controlling for relevant demographic characteristics. It should also be noted that 93% of the IB sample attended public schools.

Reference: Pilchen, Caspary, Woodworth, “Postsecondary Outcomes of International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Graduates in the United States” (2020)